Monday, 24 November 2008

There are many things one can say about Naam o Nishan, but one can't say that there is a lack of plot. Lots of stuff happens. Some of it only makes a limited amount of sense.

We start with a black clad dacoit, Jarnail Singh (Kader Khan) and his men robbing a village. Jarnail may have no qualms about taking other people's money and jewellery, but he does not approve on one of his men Zorowar (Suresh Oberoi) trying to rape a girl. He forces him to apologise which he does extremely grudgingly.

For some reason Jarnail has an up-right wife, Champa (Nirupa Roy) whose greatest wish is that her son will grow up to be a police inspector. Currently the chances of this going to happen are not looking good.

The not so happy couple

However, Zorowar, still angry with Jarnail for what he sees as his humiliation, abducts their son Suraj. However, he is noticed by the police and while he manages to escape, Suraj ends up in the care of Inspector Sangram Singh (Shashi Kapoor). When Jarnail comes to retrieve his son, the Inspector lets him go, because he came as a father and not as a dacoit. His supiriors aren't too impressed with this decision (neither am I, to be honest) and he is told to arrest Jarnail as soon as possible.

In the following big shoot-out between the dacoits and the police, Champa is killed by Zorowar who is then seen falling down a cliff. With her last breath she implores Jarnail to meant his ways. While he manages to escape again, he seen gives himself up to Inspector Sangram, and entrusts him with the bringing up of his son.

Then we have the titles.

And then it is twenty years later and Suraj has grown up into Sanjay Dutt, and Jarnail has grown an amazing mop of hair. Jarnail is released from prison just in time to watch Suraj's graduation ceremony.

The proud father I

The proud father II

Suraj is then posted to a police station which sports an empty incident book. Not because the inhabitants are terribly law-abiding but because they are too terrified to report anything to the police. I would be terrified too, if that was may local goonda:

Under all the hair, that is actually Zorowar who survived his fall down the cliff and now goes by the name of Jabhar. We get to know him better during a dance number, though I have to say his villain's lair seems to be the economy version.

The outdoor facilities are quite impressive though.

We also meet Vanisha and her family. Unfortunately, her bother in law works for Zorowar and is arrested by Suraj. His wife tries to convince him to come clean to the police but he won't do it. His wife is killed by Zorowar and when he tries to avenge her, he is killed in such a fashion as to frame Inspector Suraj, who has not pleased Zorowar with his drive for improved law enforcement. Zorowar isn't used to behaviour like this from a police officer.

Vanisha and her family:

This could be dangerous:

Are you all right down there:

However, during the trial a young woman comes forward and provides photographic evidence that Suraj didn't commit the murder. Her father is less than impressed with her antagonizing Zorowar in this manner, but Suraj accepts her as his sister and the father is somewhat mollified.

Suraj and Vanisha meet and take an instant dislike to each other, tipping experienced viewers of to the fact that they will be madly in love with each other in the next half hour or so. They end up having to spend the night in a village, where they perform a song. The villagers are amazingly well equipped for this kind of impromptu performance.

I am starting to feel all seasonal

Becherovka in the indian middle of nowhere.

Back home, Zorowar threatens Vanisha, or rather her little nephew who is looked after his parents' death. He wants her to spy on Suraj for him.

The young woman who helped Suraj in court is killed shortly afterwards, as she was caught taking incriminating pictures of Zorowar and one of his associates. Suraj arrives just in time to retrieve the roll of film she clasps. After this loose end has been tidied up, her father also disappears from the movie.

It was nice of you to be in this movie. You are now no longer required.

Meanwhile, Jarnail is released from prison. (I thought he had been released earlier, but apparently not). He is met by Inspector Sangram, who is going to take him home and introduce him to his family as his brother. Suraj doesn't know who Jarnail really is and he seems to be completely unaware that he isn't Sangram's song. Nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan, could it?

My first thought wasn't "ooh, arty shot", but "oh dear, what happened to the disk?"

Family reunion, sort of:

Well things take a completely unexpected turn for the worse as the two men are watched by Zorowar who happens to be passing by.

After another song shared by Vanisha and Suraj, he is badly injured in a fight with Zorowar's henchemen. Jarnail wants to take revenge but is stopped by Suraj's mom who points out that people might ask why he wanted to avenge Suraj, and Suraj would not be able to cope with the truth.

We move on to an engagement party. Suraj's sister is getting engaged to a judge's son. Unfortunately, the judge is the one who sentenced Jarnail and he recognises him. Offended at Sangram's claiming a close relation to the man he recognises as a convicted criminal, the judge insists on breaking up the engagement. Suraj is also not entirely happy with his fathers decision.

Tension

That night, Zorowar kills one of his henchmen and frames Jarnail for the murder; threatening to reveil Suraj's true identity if he doesn't play along. Jarnail plays along with this, but Sangram finally breaks down and tells Suraj who Jarnail really is. Suraj takes the news surprisingly well, given how often we have been told that he wouldn't be able to bear the truth.

Will he be reunited with his real father? Will Jarnail be able to proove his innocence? Will there be another exciting fight scene or two? Will Zorowar get a haircut, be brought to justice or both?

It is an okay movie, but not much more. There are several big plot holes, apart from mysteriously disappearing minor characters, the most annoying to me that Suraj doesn't remember his parents. He seems to be old enough to do so, and their is no illness or injury to explain this complete lack of memory. Also, while I like both Amrita Singh and Sanjay Dutt, I am not to keen on the two as a couple. Amrita Singh always seems very lady-like to me and this doesn't work very well with a male counterpart who is a boyish as Sanjay is here.

Shashi is woefully underused but he does what little he has to do well and Kader is very effective. I like him a lot when he isn't trying to be funny. It is a bit strange seeing the two of them play characters of the same generation after seeing Kader play characters older than Shashi a lot recently, but it fits.

And the less said about whatever has taken up residence on Suresh Oberoi's head the better.

Finally, I have seen this somewhere else, but I can't remember where. Anybody able to help?

Sunday, 16 November 2008

Not all movies about which little is known are necessarily forgotten cinematographic masterpieces. This one isn't either. Having said that, it is a pleasant enough movie, somewhat lacking in the plot department, but filled out with a number of rather excellent songs (there are three in the first forty minutes).

After a rather pretty title sequence

Voila, my reason for watching this movie:

we meet Neeta (Nanda)

and Sudhir (Shashi Kapoor)

who are afflicted by matching his and hers hiccups. They meet and sing a sweet song amongst the hills and trees. It is quite obvious that they are a couple.

soo sweet:

The next morning, Neeta is somewhat miffed with Sudhir, and he points out that they are having the type of fight people usually have after they are married and then gets all embarrassed when she asks him whose marriage he is talking about. It is all rather cute, and the two go and watch some local tribal people dance:

So much harmony, something has to go wrong at some point. We are soon introduced to the fly in the ointment in the shape of Naina (Kumari Naaz):

Naina spends most of her time sitting around reading magazines and making Neeta doubt Sudhir's love by pointing out that Neeta is very rich and Sudhir is just a poor photographer. Obviously, he is only interested in her money. Neeta starts to worry and spend more time than is sensible on a balcony in not enough clothes.

Neeta also has a lap dog:

Amazingly, Neeta doesn't catch a cold, but instead meets Sudhir and quizzes him as to why he loves her. She isn't entirely satisfied with his answers and it takes him a song in the snow to convince him of his love for her and that she has no reason to doubt him.

Better get used to this face, she looks like that a lot:

Just as they have finished their song, Naina turns up, engaging in her favourite past time of making snarky comments about photographers and love:

She also tries to convince Neeta's mother (Sulochana Latkar), that Sudhir is not to be trusted, but Ma points out that she has known him for years and likes him a lot, and she sees no reason to separate him and Neeta:

All four of them are going to have lunch together, and Neeta's mother congratulates Sudhir on having become a successful photographer. We are then treated to a flashback in which we learn that Neeta and Sudhir knew each other in college and Naina was already trying to put a spanner in the works back then:

Sigh, this has been going on for how long?

You may wonder at this point whether there is no comic subplot in this movie. Fear not (or do not breathe any sighs of relief prematurely) of course there is: Neeta gets a phone-call from Anil ( Rajendhra Nath) who asks her and Sudhir to participate in a show he organizing. Now, I do quite like Ranjendhra Nath, but he is definitely on my list of "people I don't need to see without their shirt";

alas (and there are also scenes without the plant):

Anil is looking for a girl-friend, but without terribly much success. He is more successful in organizing the show which takes on the shape of the next song, involving giant-sized drinking vessels, and Sudhir in various shades of pink and purple:

We are then treated to some more of the trials and tribulations of Anil's love life and some very sweet flirting over breakfast:

However, the loving couple's peace is disturbed by the arrival of a letter by Naina who again questions Sudhir's love for Neeta. Neeta goes and asks him (again) why he loves her, and he points out that he can't have such nice fights with anybody else. He is probably suffering from sleep deprivation as Anil snores rather badly. We also learn more about Anil's attempts to woo various girls, including Aruna Irani, and are treated to a song involving his heart and a read back

The next day, there is an item in the newspaper about a young man who killed his rich wife for her money, and of course Naina phones up to warn Neeta, as you never know what Sudhir's intentions might be. Neeta goes straight to Sudhir to ask him what he would do if she were poor. He answers that he would actually prefer her to be poor

Oh, not again:

Between Anil and Neeta, the man has the patience of a saint:

After we check on Anil and his latest love-affair, Ma decides that it is time for everybody to go home. However, we are treated to another song, this time lots of people frolicking around a swimming pool, and inside the pool, too, as Neeta was upset that Sudhir was dancing too energetically with somebody else.

Back home, Neeta's mother announces that she has arranged everything with Sudhir's Mother, and the two are going to get married very soon. Sudhir looks suitable happy:

Naina less so:

What will she plot now in order to separate Neeta and Sudhir? Will she succeed? Will we ever find out why she is doing all this? Or, for that matter, why Neeta still trusts her?

Does Nanda beg at Shashi's feet for him to love her in every movie they did together?

(Actually, the answer to the last question is no.)

It is a very sweet movie, the songs are lovely (even the one with Rajendhra about the red bag), but it leaves one a bit puzzled as to why Neeta is so willing to believe all the bad things Naina tells her about Sudhir, especially since this has been going on since they were in college together, and he is Ma-approved, and never shows any sign of not being loyal to her.

Sunday, 2 November 2008

Back in August, Beth, the PPCC, Kaddele and I watched this together. I suspect that I was the person who liked the movie best. At least, I had watched it once before, and have seen it twice since; once inflicting it on unsuspecting viewing companions as their first expierience of Black and White Bollywood (would the be bw BW?). They also commented that it is a very quiet movie. I am assuming that this wasn't a polite way of telling me that it was deadly dull; but it is true that it is decidely free of high drama and histrionics.

After a rather pretty title sequence involving a letter, the movie starts of by showing us Ratna (Parveen Choudray) engrossed in the 1960s equivalent of "Love letters for Dummies". Ratna's father is a doctor and we learn that he brought up a young man called Arun (Shashi Kapoor) and educated him to be a doctor. Arun is an orphan but he has an uncle who is currently visiting from their village. He, Arun that is, recently passed his MBBS and there is talk of him getting a state scholarship to study abroad.

Now remind me, what was the movie about again:

Ratna, she pouts a lot:

At the medical college we are swiftly introduced to our comic relief, Dr. Kedar (Rajendra Nath), his girl-friend Sumitra (Chand Usmani) and Kavita (Sadhana) , a medical student who is currently rather irritated due to having received yet another love letter. There is also a girl in glasses, who give a running commentary to all the events in medical college. Then we finally get our first glimpse of Arun, engaged in doing worthy things of a medical nature.

Kedar and Sumitra:

Miss Pushing the plot along:

Kavita, she looks irritated a lot:

And Arun, still looking rather young for a doctor.

Kavita and Arun literally bump into each other on the main staircase. Arun is highly embarassed, especially since Kavita is convinced that Arun did it on purpose. Kedar and Sumitra, however, are convinced that they have seen some sparks fly and conspire to have the two of them spend more time in each others company doing a night shift on the same ward.

One medical emergency later, they are exchanging shy but not at all uninterested glances in her car and express their developing feelings separately in a rather sweet song. Unfortunately, Arun has been spotted getting out of Kavita's car by Ratna and one of her college friends fills her in on Kavita's reputation as the most beautiful student and her problem with getting too many love letters. The friend says she has a sister in the medical college, hence all the inside information.

One look:

another look:

all very, very cute:

Ratna then asks Arun to help her with her studies. She has also suddenly taken to wearing Saris, and she is trying her best to flirt with him, but he is oblivious to what is going on. This upsets her a lot and when her father finds her crying he realises what is going on and decides to have a talk with Arun.

Arun failing to take any hints:

Arun is surprised and more than a little shocked that the girl he regards as his younger sister has fallen in love with him and begs to be let off having to marry her. Displayig more sense than is usually found in Bollywood parents, Ratna's father, who, after all, brought Arun up and had him educated, agrees that people can't be forced in such matters, but asks Arun to be careful with Ratna as this will come as a nasty shock to her.

Ratna does not take the news terribly well, especially since she has found a piece of paper with Kavita's name all over it. In order to get back at Arun she composes a love letter to Kavita in Arun's name, something she can easily do as she is able to imitate Arun's handwriting.

Oh:

Unfortunately for Arun, the love letter is first spotted by a group of giggly girls, who proceed to read it out loud, until Kavita turns up. She is irritated and edged on by the girl in horn-rimmed spectacles goes to complain to the principal. The principal sends for Arun, who, knowing full well who wrote this letter, still does not deny that it was him who wrote it. This costs him his foreign scholarship, and he decides to go back to his village.

With friends like these ...

Bad news:

When Ratna hears what happened she is gripped by remorse and confesses everything to Kavita. Kavita tries to talk to Arun but he has already left.

Back at the village, Arun's uncle suggests that they get the money for his education abroad from the local landowner. Arun isn't too keen, but he agrees. He becomes even less keen on the idea when it turns out that the money comes complete with fiance. The landowner would rather like Arun to marry his only daughter, Tara (Seema Deo). It takes his uncle and aunt some heave duty emotional blackmail (don't your remember you mother died because there was no doctor in the village, you becoming a doctor was your father's last wish) to get Arun to agree to the arrangement, but he does agree in the end. When he is asked whether he wouldn't like to see his fiance before he leave, he says, what's the point, you can't tell what people are like from the outside anyway, only he puts it a bit more politely.

Not a happy bunny:

Leaving for London:

Shortly after he leaves for England, and while he is saying his good-byes he learns that Ratna is now engaged. This is the last we see of her and her father.

Meanwhile, Tara is send to the big city to become more sophisticated. She is going to stay with her aunt, who turns out to be no other than Kavita's mother. As if that wasn't arkward enough, Tara also becomes rather friendly with Subhash (Sudhir), who originally was intended as a prospective fiance for Kavita, but she had asked for some time to finish her studies before getting married. The one person she quite clearly isn't interested in is her unseen fiance in London.

Tara:

Enjoying a day at the zoo with Subash, who isn't blind, despite the glasses:

When a letter arrives from him, she isn't too keen on answering, but her father insists. She manages to convince Kavita to write the letter for her. I can't see how this could possible go wrong. In any case, Arun is charmed with "Tara's" letter, and writes promptly back. In this, and in every following letter he is full of praise for "Tara" and full of disdain for the girl who betrayed him to the principal. He is quite obviously still very upset about what happened with Kavita.

If only he knew whose letter he is enjoying:

Kavita on her part does now fall in love properly with the Arun she gets to know through his letters, while Tara is less and less interested in Arun or his letters and more and more interested in Subash. She accompanies him on a hunting trip, during which Kedar is almost eaten by a tiger.

May landlady's cat used to hide under my bed like this.

Before anything can be done to clear up the by now rather complex situation; Arun gets distracted by a letter while sitting next to a bubbling experiment of some sort, the experiment explodes, and Arun looses his sight (but gains a much better fashion sense).

Arun, this is really not a good idea:

On receiving the news, Tara's father decides that he doesn't want his daughter to get married to a blind man, so Tara is not allowed to meet him at the airport or have any contact with him, not that she seems particularily bothered by all this. As Arun doesn't want his uncle to know about the accident, since there is a good chance that he will regain his eyesight fairly soon, it falls to Kavita to arrange for Kedar and Sumitra to pick up Arun at the airport and take him to a nursing home they run.

I wonder who does his ties:

When Arun asks after Tara, he is told that she has fallen ill, and will come to see him when she is better. Several days pass, and as Tara doesn't show up, Arun is getting worried that her family may have forbidden her to come. As he is still running a fever, all this worry isn't exactly improving his health. Sumitra tries to convince Kavita that she should come and pretend to be Tara, and after some hesitation she finally relents.

Arun is overjoyed and Kavita continues to come every day and looks after him, pretending to be "Tara". The two get on very well, the only problem being, that Arun is still very bitter about Kavita, and any attempt on "Tara's" part to try to get him to be more forgiving falls on deaf ears.

He talks a lot:

As the day of the operation which is likely to restore Arun's eyesight draws near, will Kavita have the courage to confess that she is "Tara"? And will Tara and Subash ever let her father know about their love for each other?

I rather like this; it is well acted, and there is enough melodrama without it ever getting to cloying. The only thing that could have been shorter is the whole tiger hunt business, including the dance performance of some tribals who live conveniently close by. Though there were elephants, which is always a bonus.

I didn't find that Arun was overly bitter about the love letter business, or at least, his bitterness after the accident was already prepared by him mentioning Kavita (though not by name) in every single letter he wrote to "Tara". What bothered me a bit is that we never see him falling in love with Tara the way we see Kavita fall in love with him through the letters. This makes his longing for Tara during his illness a bit unexpected though it could always be seen as due to a mixture of shock and a high temperature.

About Me

Hello reader,
a couple of things about me and this blog: I am not the most prolific of posters, two or three posts a month is about the average. I write about movies I enjoyed watching, not all of them featuring Shashi Kapoor (though it seems that way recently, doesn't it), but mostly older ones. This is not the place to look for a review of the latest movie to hit the cinemas.
Also, for historical reasons (and due to my technical ineptness) I am known as Gebruss almost everywhere else.